


Made with Love...And Science

by overworkedunderwhelmed



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Academy Era, F/M, Fluff, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Valentine's Day Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-05
Updated: 2016-02-05
Packaged: 2018-05-18 07:54:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5908879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/overworkedunderwhelmed/pseuds/overworkedunderwhelmed
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When administrative difficulties make Fitz’s holiday travel plans home nearly impossible, the pair attempts a new challenge of their scientific skills to correct the situation...with delicious results.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Made with Love...And Science

Sighing heavily, Fitz set the laptop to hibernate and sunk back against the creaky desk chair.  It wasn’t supposed to turn out like this.  

Months ago, he had sent a whole list of patents through the S.H.I.E.L.D. vetting team, most bearing both of their names.  Based on the very formal e-mail he just read, that process alone would take at least a few months more before they would forward the documentation on to the appropriate country patent offices.  And by then, the most conveniently timed travel opportunity in the past few years would have passed him by.

Since Christmas, he had been puzzling over how he might be able to make it home during the spring break.  As expected, he hadn’t been able to get away during the holiday due to big project that he and Simmons were submitting for Dr. Hall for Chemical Kinetics, and money was always a bit too tight to ask for help from him Mom. 

The fruits of her labor to not only work also but to ensure that he got into MIT and was put in the path of Shield should have been paying dividends by now.  Should.  Bloody committees.

* * *

That e-mail was still weighing heavily on his mind when Doctor Who night arrived.  By standing engagement, Fitz and Simmons trekked out through the melting piles of snow and slush to a nearby Chinese food place.  S.H.I.E.L.D.’s entry protocol often made it hard on the delivery guys to even bring food to the dorms.   Fitz personally thought the whole thing was a ruse from the communications side to ensure the lab staff got at least the bare minimum amount of exercise.

“I’m not exactly sure what I should do.” 

Simmons frowned, tugging her handbag a bit closer to her against the wind and growing crowds.  Money was never a particular issue in her family.  With the slightest hint that she was thinking about visiting, her parents would transfer the requisite money for a ticket into her bank account.  Fitz was very proud about these things, so he’d much prefer to earn the money himself.  She’d learned the hard way that this was a particularly tetchy topic very early on in the course of their friendship.  It didn’t help that the local Visa requirements and S.H.I.E.L.D.’s own academic requirements made even part-time gainful employment a near impossibility.  “There is no way to expedite the evaluation?”

“They said no.  Apparently those can be backlogged for years, and S.H.I.E.L.D. has not dedicated enough staffing to handle this particular administrative task.”

“Typical,” she sighed.

“What’s more, the ones they do have don’t necessarily have the expertise, so they may have to reach out to Scientists in Sci Ops to explain the nuances just in order to search the current patents intelligently, meaning--”

“—it would only take longer.”  She sulked.  “What a mess.”

They lapsed into near silence as the slog through the snow brought them near a small grocery store. 

“Mind if we stop in here for a bit?  I need to refresh my tea supply.”

Fitz nodded, holding the door open for her to enter ahead of him. 

Jemma mentally agreed that she’d give him a pass on her usual chiding as the inevitable bundle of crisps and sweets were surreptitiously dropped into their basket.  He was certainly entitled to a bit of frustration at the current situation.   Unfortunately, she couldn’t quite keep her eyebrows from rising once a third bag of crisps appeared.  

He shook his head, aghast that Christmas candies were still up and already the shop was already littered with Valentine’s Day chocolates and kitschy toys.  “These shops just go holiday to holiday.  I’m amazed they sell some of this stuff without a discount,” he grumbled.  “It’s never nearly so bad at home.”

Lips curling with a mostly stifled smile, she was secretly quite pleased that he had shifted into grumbling in a poor attempt to mask his homesickness.   “Well, the sentiment of the holiday is still sweet, even if it has been taken over to sell a ridiculous amount of red and pink foil wrapped goods.”

He didn’t quite meet her eyes.  “Anyways.  Most of the chocolates are bland and tasteless.”

Jemma popped an eyebrow, scenting the hint of a challenge with an almost predatory smile.  “You think you could do better, then?”

Fitz tilted his head to the side.  “The theory should solid and well tested enough, since it is used enough in manufacture.  The challenge will be for us to optimize temperature—“

“--and timing--” 

“--plus any adjustments to fillings we might want to do.”

Simmons grinned wildly, unsure if Fitz realized he had included her in this challenge without a moment’s hesitation.  Challenges were always great fun, but their projects were never more successful than when they collaborated.  Besides, it would mean so much more to him to get back to see his Mum on his own effort.  “Test batch?”

Her smile and hopeful demeanor were infectious.  “Test batch.”

With poorly veiled enthusiasm, she tugged him towards the baking supplies aisle to make a test batch of chocolates right away to properly test what all would be required. 

“Oh, it looks like they don’t really have much here--.”

“--just baking chocolate, which is more for pies and cakes.”

Fitz lifted a cookie box from the next section.  “What if we tried some of the cookies with multiple flavors to see how people like them?”

“We would need to figure out where we could make the chocolates.  Figure out ideal conditions for heating and cooling.”

“We could bake the cookies while we research where to buy the candy making materials.  Plus we need to figure out how good the kitchenette facilities are in the dorms.”

* * *

Before long, they were lugging a handful of boxes of cookie and brownie mixes and a few bags of chocolate chips of varying types to the register.  Fitz balanced an obscenely large carton of eggs in one hand and a weighty bag of flour and sugar in the other while Jemma carried the takeout bag, as they quickly returned to the dorms.

Jemma was never more thankful to have kitchenettes with a lounge on each of the floors.  The stove was a bit dated, so most of their fellow students raided the cafeteria or the area eateries.  They were able to multi-task and study and make the various test batches.  The kitchenette also came with a set of mixing bowls and a whole host of pots and pans, utensils, and baking sheet. 

She frowned, sincerely doubting the due diligence of whoever last used the kitchenette.  She rolled up her sleeves to give the bowls and baking sheets a good scrub before they began.  “So, which should we begin with?”

“Maybe the caramel fudge brownies?” Fitz mused, while the water streamed over his own hands.  With a frown, he slid the now damp sleeves of his sweater back up his forearms.

With an echo of the methodical precision they refined in the lab, the ingredients soon carefully measured out and allocated into a quick succession of bowls.  Each took turns with the more arduous task of mixing the batters by hand and alternated doing research on candy making.  By the time the first batch of cookies emerged from the oven—a bit on the crispy side—and were moved to the cooling racks to set, Jemma already had a beat on a local candy-making shop that also ran classes each weekend. 

By the time the last batch emerged from the oven, they had doled out an assortment of the sweets for them to taste test while watching the upcoming episode.  Jemma pretended not to notice the small extra batch that Fitz set aside for later.

She placed the heaping plates of the sweets out in the common area with a tip jar for material costs and a note that read, “Like these?  Wait until you taste what’s next!” 

Once the episode was finished, they meandered back to the common room with a hefty bag of textbooks and notebook, intent to watch and record reactions.  Instead, they were pleasantly surprised to see the plates mostly empty.  Jemma was even more pleasantly surprised to see the tip jar was full.  They had more than enough to cover the cost of the candy making classes over the weekend.


End file.
